


i don't know even know your name

by lagunaindigo



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: College, Fate & Destiny, Fluff, Happy Ending, Lost Love, Love at First Sight, M/M, New York City, No Smut, Romance, Soulmates, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:35:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29506314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lagunaindigo/pseuds/lagunaindigo
Summary: As Sapnap is swept into the Grand Central Station, he bumps into a beautiful stranger. From the moment their eyes met, Sapnap knew they were destined to find each other. But then, the stranger has to go and takes Sapnap's heart along with him. For the next year, Sapnap can't get the stranger out of his mind as he searches for him in every face that passes by. But as the days since their fateful meeting stretch on, Sapnap gives up on ever finding the stranger until destiny strikes again.
Relationships: Karl Jacobs/Sapnap
Comments: 8
Kudos: 50





	i don't know even know your name

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place in NYC. I apologize if there is any mistakes in descriptions or locations as I have never been there before. All my references and understanding comes from Google. 
> 
> This is based on the song I Don't Know Even Know Your Name by Shawn Mendes.

April 29th. 

The day Sapnap lost the love of his life.

_ \---- One Year Ago --- _

In a flurry of tired locals and anxious tourists, Sapnap slipped off the train and into the Grand Central Station. The overwhelming mass of people guided him away from the platform. He could barely catch his breath before he was swept into the main entryway. 

His eyes widened as he took in the enormity of the Grand Central Station. It was everything he had hoped it would be and more. The swoop of the ceiling was decorated with turquoise murals and gaudy ornaments. Rushing water fell from the fountain in the middle of the room as hundreds of people raced by in a hurry. Vast windows gave glimpse into the fabled world of the City that Never Sleeps. Sapnap took a deep breath, taking in the atmosphere as the world passed by him. 

It felt surreal. Sapnap had dreamed of coming to New York City for so long that he couldn’t believe he was finally here. He took in another breath, tasting the excitement of his future here on the tip of his tongue. It was delicious.

A soft vibration in his pocket broke away his attention from relishing in the sensations of first arriving in NYC. It was a message from his mother, wondering if he made it okay. He quickly texted back a response before tucking his phone back into his jeans. Sapnap was only here for a few days, he didn’t want to waste any time on his phone. 

His itinerary consisted of tourist attractions, college visits and wherever else he wound up. The most important thing to him though was making sure he made the most of his college visits. Picking the correct college in NYC was vital to his future in the city, it was the secret ingredient to the taste. 

Sapnap had spent the last two years living at home, working and attending community college in order to afford moving to NYC after he graduated. He would be damned if he let his hard work be wasted. 

Suddenly, Sapnap was tripping forward, unaware of what was happening around him. The tiled floor quickly approaching his face as he continued to fall. A loud gasp filled his ears as he attempted to catch himself with his hands. 

“Oh my gosh, I am so sorry.” A man’s voice, soft and fleeting. 

Sapnap remained on the floor for a moment, regaining his composure. A hand appeared in front of his face as someone tried to help him up. Swiftly, he took the hand, pulling himself up to meet his maker. 

As his eyes settled upon who had helped him, he became speechless again. It was a man, a beautiful man. He was breathtaking. Sapnap glanced over the appearance of the stranger, observing his fluffy brown hair that seemed to shine in the glow of the overhead lights. His eyes drifted to a sweater, cozy and ornate. Finally, he looked back up at the stranger to gaze into pale eyes that reminded him of warm, summer days. 

The man’s face scrunched up in worry as Sapnap continued to gawk at him. Words struggled to form as Sapnap fumbled some form of greeting to the man standing in front of him. “I… um, yeah…. Thank you.” Sapnap felt a blush creep up his cheek as the stranger stared at him expectantly. He must have been cherry red. 

“Of course. It’s the least I could do after running into you.” The man giggled lightly, his brown hair bouncing alongside his laugh. His eyes crinkled as a wide smile spread across his face. It was one of the most beautiful things Sapnap had ever seen. 

“It’s, um….” Shaking slightly, Sapnap tried to overcome his sudden nervousness, “no problem.”

_ If you hadn’t run into me, I wouldn’t have met the most exquisite boy I have ever laid eyes on.  _

It felt like everything in Sapnap’s life had led to this moment as he stared into the stranger’s eyes. The planets had aligned as his fate unfolded before him. They seemed destined to cross paths for a single moment in the eternal space of time.  _ His soulmate.  _

But then, as Sapnap felt the world pause, it continued on. A moment in time was a hopeless ruse for those willing to believe it. 

“Okay, well, I have to go. It was loving meeting you…?” 

His fate was shredded apart with each passing word. 

“Sapnap.” He choked out. It took everything in him to not grab onto the stranger to stop him. The man had to have seen it, he had to have felt it as they stared into each other’s eyes.  _ Was his fate different from mine? _

“What a name. Goodbye, Sapnap.” The man laughed again, brash and joyous. Sapnap smiled weakly at him, nodding his head as he accepted his fate. He was only meant to meet this man, not know him. He felt his shoulders drop in defeat. 

And with one final look, the man was gone. Sapnap watched as he slipped away, swallowed by the crowd as he exited Grand Central Station. A sense of despair settled over Sapnap’s heart as he let the stranger escape him. 

\--  _ Eight Months Ago --  _

It had been four months since he was in NYC. It had been four months since he had met the stranger. He had never left Sapnap’s mind. It haunted him with regret for letting the man leave. He didn’t even know his name but he couldn’t stop thinking about him. 

But today, his mind was occupied with moving into his dorm at Fordham University. Nestled in the Bronx, Sapnap had fallen in love with the quaint campus. From the moment he began his tour, he knew he was meant to go here. 

As he stood in front of the dormitory, looking over the brick building he would call home for the next 10 months, he felt the presence of his mother. She stood beside him, sighing contently as she looked at the scenery around her. 

“It’s lovely.” She whispered, placing a hand on Sapnap’s shoulder before heading inside the building. Sapnap nodded, a grin splashed across his face as turned around, feeling the excitement of his future loom over him.

For the rest of the day, Sapnap and his family moved him into the dorm. It was a tiring and tedious process that consumed all his attention. When the final touches on his room were completed, his parents bid him a teary eyed goodbye before leaving Sapnap on his own. 

With the soft click of the door shutting behind his parents, Sapnap let out a high squeak. His body shaking with all the possibilities that laid ahead of him. He felt drunk off his excitement. 

He threw his body onto his bed, the comforter surrounding him in a hug. Letting out a deep sigh, Sapnap relaxed his body as he attempted to calm himself down. The city could wait to be explored after he rested. 

\---

Loud knocking awoke Sapnap from his slumber. He quickly pulled up his phone, seeing that he had only slept for a few hours before someone had rudely awakened him. The knocking continued, whoever it was was persistent. 

Sapnap sat up, forcing himself to answer the door. He called out to wait a moment before he threw a sweatshirt over his head. The knocking stopped as the person on the other side suddenly became patient. 

In a swift motion, Sapnap shuffled over to the door and unlocked it. He could hear voices on the other side, muffled by the wall separating them. Gathering the energy to interact with people, he pulled open the door, revealing three guys standing in front of him.

The first guy, shorter than Sapnap, noticed the door had opened first. He grinned, a mischievous tint to his eyes. The other two guys stood behind the shorter one and stopped talking, looking at Sapnap sheepishly. 

“Can I help you?” Sapnap asked, his voice coming out a slow drawl. 

“Hello. I am Alex but you can call me Q.” The shorter man stuck his hand out. Sapnap took it hesitantly. 

“Sapnap.” He shook Q’s hand slowly. 

Q smiled at him before standing aside to point behind him. “This is my roommate George and his best friend Dream.” Sapnap nodded his head at them. George waved as Dream smiled at him in response. “We’re here because I’m throwing a party and I wanted to invite you.” 

A wide smile broke on Sapnap’s face as felt his mood lighten up. He nodded ethanusically, accepting the offer. Q continued to grin as he started to share the details of the party. 

It was the start of a beautiful friendship. 

_ \-- Six Months Ago -- _

Since meeting Q, Dream and George, the four of them had become inseparable. Sapnap had attended his first party and from there, their friendship blossomed into something of a brotherhood. 

Growing up, Sapnap didn’t have many friends, let alone close friends. But to suddenly stumble upon three of them was something out of a movie. Sapnap couldn’t even begin to describe how lucky he felt. 

He’d grown so close to them, he felt comfortable telling him about the stranger. He still thought of the beautiful man every day. As he walked down the streets of NYC, he’d search for the stranger in each face he passed. The more faces, he saw the most hopeless he felt. In a city of millions, he thought he would never be able to find his one.

“In April, I met the love of my life at Grand Central.” He told his friends one day as they studied together in the library. Q looked at him curiously, his mind pondering Sapnap’s words.

“How do you know she was the love of your life?” George whispered, eager to know more. Dream didn’t look up, too engrossed in his coding work to respond. 

“He. But when I looked into his eyes, I suddenly knew that we were meant to meet. I knew he was my soulmate.” Sapnap explained, a sad longing to his voice. Q giggled, shaking his head at his friend’s antics. George smiled at him knowingly, trying to bring comfort to Sapnap’s words.

“What happened to him?” Dream asked, looking up. The memory of the stranger slipping into the crowd replayed in Sapnap’s mind, his heart sank.

“He asked my name and then left. I haven’t seen him since.” His voice grew quiet as he remembered the betrayal. Sapnap didn’t even know the man’s name but he still had such a profound effect on him. 

“Oh, Sap. You’ll find someone like that again.” Q teased as he flipped to a new page in his notebook. Sapnap ignored him, his mind stuck on the stranger from the train station. 

George glared at Q, hitting him softly on the arm to get him to knock it off. He could hear the sincerity in Sapnap’s words, his devoted belief that the man was the love of his life. George wanted to believe it too. 

“If it’s meant to be, you’ll find each other again.” George patted Sapnap’s shoulder, offering him a supporting smile. Sapnap looked at him for a moment and nodded, a sad look crossing his face. 

_ If it is fated to be, I will see you again.  _

_ \-- 4 Months Ago -- _

It was now November. Massive heaps of snow lined the sidewalks as Sapnap walked through Central Park, the freezing temperature nipping at skin. He pulled his coat tighter, hoping to gain some additional warmth as he ventured forward. 

He was meeting George at a coffee shop to study for finals. Stupidly, Sapnap had gotten off the wrong subway stop and decided to walk the remaining way. The bitter cold continued to remind him of his wrong decision. 

As he breathed in the winter air, he felt the sharpness of the cold cleansing his lungs. He charged forward, his eyes settling on the sight of a frozen stream, gray skies and dripping icicles. It was all very bleak and mundane, bright colors muted underneath inches of snow. He missed Texas. 

Sapnap dragged on, shuffling his frozen feet across the icy ground. George had texted him of his arrival to the coffee shop, asking if he wanted anything. Glancing down at his phone, he realized he still had another 10 minutes to go so he politely declined. The coffee he so greatly desired would be cold if he had George order it now. 

The trees surrounding the path started to dissipate, allowing a view of Grand Central Station to appear on the horizon. Sapnap let out a small sigh upon seeing the train station, it’s sight a sad reminder of the stranger. 

It had been eight months since he had seen the stranger. That moment felt like a lifetime ago but Sapnap remembered each second of it like it was yesterday. He still thought of the man everyday but he stopped searching as hard. He could no longer handle the heartbreak and regret the memory carried with it. Sapnap had almost given up completely on finding the man. The stranger was only supposed to pop into his life for a moment, not a lifetime. And he needed to learn how to be okay with that. 

Yet George would not allow him to completely give up. Every so often he would remind Sapnap of his full trust that the two of them would meet again. “What is meant to be will always find a way.” A quote from Trisha Yearwood that Sapnap was fairly certain George just googled to make him feel better. 

But as Sapnap stared at the Grand Central Station, he found trouble in believing in what George had said. He even found trouble in believing his own presumed fate.  _ Maybe I was wrong, maybe you weren’t my soulmate.  _

A group of people passed Sapnap, he didn’t bother to look at their faces. He knew they wouldn’t be the stranger. His head hung in defeat until he heard one of the people in the group laugh. It sounded familiar, joyous and brash. 

He turned around quickly, his head whipping towards the direction of the group. His eyes scanned over them, looking for brown hair. His heart leaped with anticipation as his breath grew shallow, he couldn’t believe it. After all this time, he might have found the stranger. 

Frantically, he continued to search over them as they disappeared into the distance. Desperation setting in as he carefully considered each appearance. His heart sank in chest as he realized none of them had brown hair. He felt like a fool.  _ You weren’t my soulmate.  _

_ \-- Present Day --  _

Sapnap glared at the calendar on his wall. April 29th stared back, mocking him as he realized it had been a full year since he had met the stranger. 

Since the day in November when Sapnap had thought he heard the strangers’ laugh, he made an effort to get over himself. He realized from that moment on, he needed to stop chasing after a dream that would never come true. Their moment together had passed and he needed to move on. 

The vibration of his phone next to him pulled him out of his thoughts. It was a message from Q, asking if he wanted to meet up with some of his friends to get lunch. Sapnap paused, deciding if he wanted to spend the day wallowing in self pity or spend time with friends. He chose the latter, responding back with a ‘yes please’. 

Within the next half an hour, Sapnap was out the door, Dream and George alongside him as they walked to a local hot dog stand to meet Q. Their conversation was light and playful, bouncing off each other with ease. The weather was perfect as the first hints of summer surrounded them. Sapnap glanced up at the sky, the color reminding him of pale blue eyes. 

He shook his head, forcing the thought out of his mind. George looked at him, his eyebrows raised slightly as he watched questioningly. Sapnap turned towards George, offering a quick smile to show he was okay. 

They continued for another few minutes, falling into a comfortable silence before approaching the hot dog stand. Dream directed them to the left, Q coming into sight. He was sitting on a picnic bench, a girl next to him and a guy across from him. Sapnap wondered who they could be, never having seen them before. 

Q saw them first, waving at them wildy, a soft grin on his face. The girl next to Q looked up, staring at the trio as they came closer. The guy at the table didn’t turn around, too consumed with the phone in his hand.

“Hi guys! Meet my new friend Niki,” He pointed to the girl, rocking pink hair and thick black eyeliner. She blushed, averting her eyes at the sudden attention. Q shoved her shoulder lightly, teasing her over her shyness. George, the ever kind soul, rolled his eyes at Q, extending his hand to Niki. She smiled at him kindly, shaking his hand. “And Karl.” Q pointed to the guy who didn’t make any move to introduce himself.

George moved to sit next to Niki, asking her a few questions as she started to relax in their presence. Dream laid down on the grass, extending his body out as he soaked in the warmth of the sun. Sapnap stood awkwardly for a moment, looking for where he should go before deciding to sit next to the guy.

The guy had light blonde hair, Sapnap guessed it had been bleached. He was staring down, glued to his phone. Sapnap settled next to him, clearing his throat as he looked around, absorbing the ambience surrounding him. 

Exactly one year ago, he entered Grand Central Station looking for a place to call home and now here he was. He couldn’t have imagined any of this. It was more than what he had dreamed about, it was something better. 

Sapnap’s eyes landed on Dream, who looked back up at him, giving him a knowing look. Dream understood what Sapnap was thinking as he basked in the presence of their friends. Q’s laugh rang out in the air, shifting Sapnap’s attention away from Dream. Niki and George were blushing as Q crunched up in laughter on the table. 

The bench creaked beside him, the guy shifting around as he looked up from his phone. Sapnap didn’t look over at him, too consumed in watching Niki and George. He couldn’t help but laugh alongside Q as he looked between the trio in front of him. 

He felt eyes bore into his side as the guy next to him turned his attention to Sapnap. The direct spotlight caused him to shift uncomfortably as he tried to ignore the feeling of scrutiny. 

“Sapnap?” The guy whispered. His voice was so quiet that Sapnap almost missed it. He assumed that the guy meant to say it more to himself than out loud but that didn’t stop Sapnap from turning towards the stranger next to him. 

Time stopped as Sapnap’s eyes fell upon the guy.  _ It was him.  _

It was the stranger. The man from the train station. His destined soulmate. 

“It’s you.” Escaping from his lips in a faint murmur, Sapnap became speechless. 

The stranger, now known as Karl, broke into an excited laugh. His eyes crinkled happily as began to talk.  _ What is meant to be will always find a way.  _

Sapnap didn’t speak, deciding to listen to Karl instead. He rested his head against his hand, taking in the sight of Karl’s bleached hair, pale blue eyes and funky Hawaiian t-shirt. For the past year, he had imagined the exact moment that played out before him. It was perfect.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw George staring at him. He glanced over, sharing eye contact for a brief second. George winked at him and mouthed, “I told you so.” 

He rolled his eyes before returning his focus to Karl. 

_ His soulmate. _

“It feels like we were destined to see each other again.” 

“I couldn’t agree more.” And with that Sapnap silently thanked the universe. 

\----

April 29th. 

The day he was reunited with the love of his life. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading my work. I appreciate it more than words can describe. This is my first writing a one shot and writing karlnap so this story is definitely outside my comfort zone. Alas, I hope you enjoyed! Please feel free to comment any thoughts or concerns you have about the story!
> 
> Follow my [twitter](https://twitter.com/lagunaindigo)


End file.
